One Year Flight
by RGZ Archer
Summary: A botched mission, secrets, deception, death and rebirth. What happened after Kai's battle with Master Cyclonis? These are the chronicles of Kai's one year run. Who can he still trust? Who are his true friends? Who are his true enemys?
1. A New Dawn

The One Year Flight

Chapter 1 A New Dawn.

AN: Hello and welcome to the first chapter of Broken Wings companion story One Year Flight. This will focus on a particularly difficult time of Kai's character development. As for a time line, this series will take place after chapter 5 of Broken Wing, but still four years before the events of the Storm Hawks series. So yes Kai is still fourteen…at the moment. If you haven't read chapters three through five of broken wing this story will make no sense, so go back and read it first. Unlike the other series however, Starling will play little to no role in this one, appearing only in a few flash backs and as a passing mention. I will try to incorporate as many of the series cannon characters as I can, but author OC's will be limited to Broken Wing only, due to my trying to keep a solid and stable timeline, remember Kai didn't meet the Rock Hearts or any of the other OC's until the Tigger or Crystal Lights series. So without further waiting, let's get this show on the road!

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound effects_

"Ugh." Kai tried to open his eyes, but shut them immediately after doing so. "Why is it so bright?" Kai asked weakly.

"Whoa hold up there ace! Let me go get the boss." A voice answered from Kai's side.

Trying to keep his eyes open proved to be difficult. Where ever he was, the entire room was lit up like a flash crystal._ "Where am I?"_ Trying to move, Kai became aware that he was in some sort of bed. An extremely comfortable one at that. From the feel of it he guessed it was covered with fur pelts.

"So your finally waking up there eh little fella." A familiar voice called out.

"_Where do I know that voice from?"_ Kai was trying to think when a hand covered over his eyes.

"You're ok. Just go back to sleep. You were tore up pretty bad, and got yourself a pretty bad concussion." The voice paused for a second.

_Pop_

"When you wake up next time, we'll have a little chat. That sound nice?" Kai couldn't remember who the voice was off the top of his head. But he knew it was that of a friend, someone that he trusted. The hand pulled away from his face and before succumbing to sleep he could just make out a smiling face.

Though drifting off, he was still able to hear voices in the room.

"She was right, he has changed. His eyes aren't even the same." The female voice said.

"Ya think it's a bad thing chief?" A male voice responded.

"I don't know. But she left him here for us to look after. Remember you can't breath a word of this to anyone. We owe her that much, and the final choice should be up to Kai, not some old goat that's outlived the dinosaurs."

_Pop_

"Let him sleep. If he wakes up again come and get me. The boy's need to run some more drills before the day's end anyway." As she was speaking, Kai knew that she was leaving the room since her voice was getting further and further away.

"Eh no problem chief, I could use a little time off. My headaches have been getting worse." The male voice called out.

"Then don't egg on those hosiers so much in the future." The female voice replied.

That was the last thing Kai was aware of before he once again dived into the void of darkness and into the realm dreams.

AN: Short I know, but I wanted to leave you guys wanting more, and I felt this was a good place to stop. Any guesses as the where Kai is, or who his two care takers are? Here's a hint, their cannon characters that have appeared at least twice in the show.


	2. Things Change

The One Year Flight

Chapter 2 Things Change.

AN: I know, the previous chapter was short. But I hope that this one will make up for it. I will warn you now, this is story is highly OC centric, so if you don't like those turn back now. Otherwise please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound effects_

Kai's eyes fluttered for a few seconds before he was finally able to keep them open. He didn't know how long he had been out, but still felt like he had fallen from a skimmer, while in flight. _"What is that sound? It's…someone humming?"_ Looking to his side he soon found the person responsible for waking him up. There, clad in a thin light brown fur flight suit was someone he had not seen in a long time.

"So you finally decided to wake up again eh?" The young woman got up from her chair and walked towards Kai, then got down on her knees so she was at eye level with him. She gave him a beaming smile before ruffling his hair. "Been awhile eh squirt?"

"Suzi? What are you doing on...Mesa?" Looking around Kai was able to see that the room he had awoken in was constructed entirely out of ice.

"You're a bit off there squirt. You aren't on Mesa, this be Blizzaris boy! Don't you know ice when you see it?" Suzi was joking, he could tell. But her smile was sad, unlike the cheerful vibrant ones she usually wore.

"What happened? Why am I on Blizzaris?" Kai was confused, confused and a little scared.

"Those are two completely different questions. But I can only answer the first right now. Your S.O.S was picked up by the Sky Council. They scrambled everyone they could get their hands on to your location. By the time I got there it was pretty much over." Suzi stopped for a second, her face becoming pensive.

_Pop_

She chewed her bottom lip for a second before continuing. "When I got there, Starling came rushing up to me with you in her arms. She handed you and some weird crystal to me, and told me that I had to get you as far from the terra as possible. I personally couldn't leave since it was a direct order from the Sky Council, but I handed you and the crystal over to Billy, told him to return to base with you, and to sabotage his grinder's engine."

_Pop_

"Why would you tell him to sabotage his grinder?" Kai asked confused.

"The order was that all available squadrons get to your location A.S.A.P. I had to come up with a way to explain why one of my squadron was not there. So engine trouble was the first thing I could come up with."

_Pop_

"But why would it matter?" Kai could see her logic to a degree, but he still couldn't figure out her reason.

"Have you ever tried lying to one of those old coots? It's impossible, believe me, I've tried, along with every other Sky Knight to have walked Atmos. But if asked where Billy was, and I replied he was on Blizzaris, and they asked why, and my answer was engine problems, they wouldn't be able to tell I was lying because I would be telling the truth." She paused for a second and Kai saw her face scrunch up. "But I never imagined he would take the order as seriously as he did." Suzi said with narrowed eyes.

"What did he do?" Kai had heard about Billy from Starling and Suzi in the past. Extreme was an understatement when concerning the young Blizzarian.

"He dropped it off the side of the terra."

_Pop_

"I almost made him pay for the replacement, but he was following orders." Suzi shook her head.

"OoooooK, now for my second question. Why?" Kai noticed that Suzi flinched.

"I don't think I can answer that one. But a few days ago we got a box with your name on it, and a messenger crystal. We haven't opened the box, or played the message I promise." Suzi smiled before getting up. "I'll go fetch it for you ok?"

As she walked out of the room Kai started remembering what had happened. The terra, the young girl, the dragon, the crystal. "The crystal!" Trying to calm down, he took a few deep breaths. Suzi entered the room again, this time with a small box about the size of her hand.

"Here we go, one messenger crystal." She sat the box on the bed. After a few seconds passed she noticed that the young boy's eyes were clinched shut, and his was breathing was labored. "You ok?"

Kai turned to her, and trying his best to smile answered. "Yeah, just a lot on my mind."

A second later Suzi's eyes went wide. "Oh blimey, the crystal!" Jumping up Suzi ran to the other side of the room to a shelf. Though he couldn't see what was on it since it was above his line of sight. Turning back around Suzi hurried back to the bed. "I almost forgot, Starling gave me this, she said it was yours." She held up her staff that, Kai guessed was what she had grabbed from the shelf earlier; and turned it upside down so the blade was on the ground, and then twisted in at the center. A second later the bottom opened up and a black crystal rose up between the connector prongs. "I wanted to make sure nothing happened to it, so I kept it in the safest place I could think of." Pulling the crystal free of the prongs she handed it to Kai before turning to leave.

"Where are you going?" He knew Suzi was a bit strange, but that was one of the reasons he liked her. She was different from anyone else he knew.

"Dinner bell. You didn't hear it? Besides I think that's a privet message, best you watch it alone." With that she left him alone.

"_Why is it that they are never able to remember they have better hearing than us?"_ Looking down at the small metal box, Kai made sure that he opened it carefully. Sure enough, resting in the center of the box was a messenger crystal. Taking it out of the box he held it in one hand while he put down the box. A few seconds later there was a flash, and above the crystal stood the tiny image of Starling.

"Hello Kai, I must apologize for not being there when you woke up, but I am afraid that something serious has happened." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I was not completely honest with you before we left on the mission. The terra was not being evaluated for habitation, there are enough known and mapped Terra's for that should there ever be a need. What I am about to tell you is highly classified; you can never speak of it to another living soul. I am in fact, risking death by telling you, but, I felt that you had a right to know what has happened since you have now become involved."

Kai was surprised to say the least. He knew that the Interceptors were a special ops squadron, and he had thought that it was a little strange for them to be sent just to evaluate a terra, but it didn't seem all that big a deal. _"Guess I was wrong."_ He thought ruefully.

"The terra was actually discovered several years ago in the Sky Council's archives. Originally, it was believed to be little more than a myth, like terra Vapos, but it turned out to be real. Kai what we found, what we were exploring, were the ruins of terra Ulara."

As soon as the word left her mouth, Kai nearly dropped the Messenger crystal. He could see that Starling had paused her message, likely expecting such a reaction. After a few seconds she continued.

"I'm sure that you know what this means. The old legends are true, and you hold in your hand the proof. Kai, the crystal that you now hold is far more powerful than anything you could ever imagine. It must not fall into Cyclonian hands, or anyone else's, including the Sky Council. Crystal's that powerful should never be found, they were hidden for a reason. Now, listen to me very closely. Our mission was to canvas the entire terra from top to bottom, find the temple, and if possible the crystal. I want you to know that I never doubted your device would work, that is why I took you in the opposite direction from where we thought the city would be. I couldn't let you find out about the mission. Originally, our plan was that we were going to find the ruins, go through the temple, and if possible take the crystal. Once we secured it, we were going to destroy it if possible, and if we could not destroy it, toss it into the wastelands so it would never be found again. I know that you were only doing what you thought was best. You tried to save the lives of your fellow squad mates, but you almost put an extremely powerful weapon into the hands of people that already have too much power to begin with."

Kai was trying to figure out what Starling was talking about, and then he was hit with a memory from that day.

_Flashback_

_Beep beep beep beep beep_

"_Woah! Sta,r check this out!" Kai called out._

_Looking at the device for the first time up close. Starling noticed that it didn't just give the direction of detected crystals, but also gauged their power. When she saw the readout however she nearly fainted. "This thing must be off, there is no way it can be accurate." Lifting her own device she noted that hers was not detecting anything at all. "I think it needs a little more work, I'm not detecting anything."_

"_I tested this thing for a month, I even sent a second one to Piper, and she said that it works perfectly fine. Besides, I told you that mine has more range, yours probably can't get a reading through all that rock." Kai was hurt that his friend lacked faith in his gadget. He had spent quite a bit of time working on it._

"_It might have better range, but according to this there's a second Aurora stone in that rock face, and that's just not possible." She was cut off from continuing however._

"_And just why is that? The Aurora stone was found in a temple built by the Ancients, so why couldn't there be another like it? This terra's on no map, and from what we have seen, is uninhabited. It could have been at one point." Before he could continue however they heard the engines of a large ship overhead._

_Flashback end_

Now that he thought about it, she didn't look as surprised as she did scared. _"She must mean the Aurora stone. But what does she mean by too much power."_

"Kai, no person is perfect. We all succumb to weakness at one point or another, but this problem is especially dangerous when dealing with governments, and that goes double during wartime. You have become involved in something very dangerous." At this point the small hologram looked up at Kai's face. "You are in way over your head. The reason you are at terra Blizzaris, is because terra Mesa is no longer safe for you. The Sky Council has had their eyes on you for several years, but I have managed to keep them off of you through several deals over the last few years. However, this is beyond my ability to negotiate, or make a deal to get you out of. The only option I had left was to hide you. The Sky Knights are loyal to the Council, but they do not serve them. A Sky Knights first loyalty is to their terra, followed by their squadron, and then the Council. It is for this reason that you are being hidden. You can trust the Sky Knights and their squadrons, but you still must be wary of the terra's inhabitants. The reason that I chose Suzi to hide you first was because you know her to be a close friend of mine, and I know her to be a good friend of yours." Kai noticed that Starling expression went from serious to sad.

"_Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like what she say's next?"_ Kai could see the pain in his friend's eyes; it hurt him to see such an expression on her face.

"Kai, this will be the last time that you will see or hear from me for quite some time. You cannot under any circumstance communicate with myself, any other member of the Interceptors, your mother, or any of your friends. I have already contacted them, and told them the circumstances, and they all understood." He noticed that Starling had to stop for a moment to regain her composure before continuing. "Consider this to be your first solo mission. You are to go underground, into hiding, and keep a low profile. You are a wanted man, and must act as though you are behind enemy lines. The Sky Knights will serve as your contacts as well as your fellow operatives. You must become strong enough to survive on your own, strong enough to defend yourself from any threat. I want you to know that I have faith in you; you were my first student, and my oldest friend. I know what you are capable of, and I have watched you grow over the past few years. I hope to one day see you return. I know your fifteenth birthday will be coming soon, so I have left you a present since I will not be there in person. You must remain hidden until after you turn sixteen. At that point you will be able to safely return to Mesa. I look forward to seeing you again."

The image flickered for a second before a new image appeared. It was still Starling, but this time it was a close up of her face, so it was about life sized.

"Make me proud. Farewell my friend." Starling gave a sad smile that lasted for a few seconds, before the image flickered off.

Kai was in shock, he couldn't believe what was happening. One minute he was happily enjoying breakfast with his friends, then he was on his first mission, and now, he was hiding from his own people. As hard as he tried he couldn't hold back the tears that were trying to break free.

"Hey hey what's wrong squirt?" Kai looked up to see Suzi-Lu standing in the doorway. Judging by her expression Kai could tell that she knew what the message was about. She sat down beside him, and wrapped one arm around his shoulders. After a few seconds passed she began to sway slightly and Kai could hear her humming. It was the same song that he had heard while stuck in the dark void of sleep.

A few minutes passed before Kai was able to pull himself together. Wiping the tears from his face, he turned to his friend. "Suzi, what do I do? I've never read about anything like this before."

Looking down, Suzi thought that the boy looked so much smaller then she knew him to be, he seemed so weak, so frail. "You have three choices." Kai looked up into her emerald green eyes and knew that what she was about to say was very important.

"What do you mean?" Kai managed to choke out.

"You can run away and try to make it on your own. If you chose to do that, I will not report a stolen grinder; I'll just list it as scrapped. Your second choice is to stay hidden, and use the Sky Knights as a way to avoid the Council." At this point she stood up from the bed and walked to the rooms door.

"What's the third choice?" Kai asked.

Suzi turned the Lunar crystal that was supplying light to the room off plunging it into darkness. "That, is for you to decide." With that she walked out of the room leaving Kai alone with his thoughts. Looking down he could see the black crystal in his hand glowing with a soft grayish hue.

Clinching his fist around the stone, Kai made his decision.

End Chapter 2

AN: So what do you think? I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible. I know they never said anything in the series about Starling and Suzi being friends, but the way I see it, all the Sky Knights seem pretty chummy with each other in the few episodes that show more than one. Now, you might be wondering where I got sixteen from, and why it is so important. In my story series, sixteen is the age at which a person is recognized as a legal adult, same as twenty one in the U.S. The reason I chose sixteen is that the population of Atmos is considerably smaller than that of present day Earth, so the age where a person can fight, or get married would be lowered. More will be revealed in the next chapter. Until then Ja Ne!


	3. Changes Made, a Path Chosen

The One Year Flight

Chapter 3 Changes Made, a Path Chosen

AN: So what do you think? Have I got Suzi's character down? Well I'll be trying the rest of her squadron now. The Absolute Zero's are my favorite squadron in the series. (Starling and Stork are my favorite characters though and always will be) They lost their home Terra, but they didn't let it get them down. They were able to move on and continue with their lives. I respect that, also I find their characters to be hilarious. Suzi I find to be a particularly interesting character. She reminds me of a slightly older female version of Aerrow. She's wise beyond her years, but still able to fit in with a squadron full of misfits and miscreants. She can be serious at times, but she also has a good sense of humor, which probably helps her put up with Billy Rex and the others. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I know that his has been a new experience for me, I have not written in several years, much less for enjoyment. (Shakes fist in general direction of school)

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Morning came to terra Blizzaris quickly. Or rather, it came too quickly for its resident Sky Knight.

"Oh why does morning have to be so bright?" Suzi rubbed her temples to try and stave off her soon to be headache.

"I can give you a hand with that if you're interested." Suzi spun around to see Kai leaning on the frame of her door. "Seriously, I have the same problem. Morning light gives me migraines. What?" Kai saw the odd look on Suzi's face.

"What are you doing in my room? Your not up to nothing sneaky are yeh?" Suzi gave a wiry grin.

"I don't pull pranks on friends, you should know that. Your squadron though, is still fair game." Kai gave a smile of his own.

"So what was your decision? Or did you just come to tell me breakfast is ready." One of Suzi's ears twitched.

"_That's right, they got the super hearing."_ Kai looked up again and saw that Suzi was now standing in before him with her arms crossed. "I want you to train me, make me stronger, and teach me anything you're willing to." Kai's face went from a happy to serious faster than she could blink.

"Alright, we'll see what you've got after we eat. Oh and one last thing." Turning around Suzi ruffled Kai's hair. "Might not be a good idea to sneak in other peoples rooms in the future eh?" Suzi then left a very confused Kai and headed to the only thing that both she and the rest of her squad cared about in the mornings.

Food.

Several minutes later Kai's head peeked into the room where the Absolute Zero's were eating. Suzi saw him out of the corner of her eye.

"Ah come on in. You must be hungry." She pointed to an open chair at the table which, like the table itself was carved from ice.

"Actually I'm not that hungry. I could eat but I'm not starving or anything." Looking up he saw that the rest of the squad, like Suzi, had expressions of shock on their faces.

"Hey chief, isn't that the kid that was out cold all last week? One of the "squadies" asked.

"I think so; didn't you look after him Billy?" Another asked.

"Yeah, that's him. But he should be starving; I don't think he's eaten since I brought him here." Billy answered.

"Um it could just be the cold, slowing me down you know. I'm not awake yet so I'll probably be hungry once I am." Kai looked around nervously hopping they would buy it.

"Well don't just stand there. Pull up a seat." Billy pointed to the empty seat.

Now Kai was more then just a bit nervous. He knew about the Blizzarian's eating habits', and could only hope that he wouldn't lose too many teeth in one day. Sure enough breakfast was frozen waffles, with a muffin (also frozen). Not wanting to seem rude Kai picked up a waffle thinking it should be easier. Lifting it to his mouth he took a bit and was surprised when his teeth went through the frozen block of ice as though it were a cracker.

"Oh that's right you probably aren't used to…" Suzi stopped midsentence was she watched the boy eat breakfast with the same amount of ease that her squadron did. The puzzlement was clear on her face.

After swallowing Kia looked up to see all the people at the table were looking at him. "What? Did I do something wrong?" Kai ran a hand across his face thinking that he must have had something on it.

"Eh we're just not used to seeing someone that isn't one of us Blizzarian's eat like that. How you do that? You got metal teeth or something eh?" Billy's face was scrunched up in thought.

"Ah it's nothing big. So what, the little fella can chew through ice, it isn't like he's a human, not with eyes like that." One of the others said.

"What are you talking about? Blue eyes are nothing strange to humans; quite a few have them actually." When he said this, Kai knew that he had said something wrong.

"Uh you might wanta take a look in a mirror there ace." Billy pointed at a mirror hanging on a nearby wall.

Getting up Kai walked to the mirror trying to figure out what was going on. Looking in the mirror he didn't see anything strange, just the same face he had seen every day for as long as he could remember, then he noticed something. _"Why are my eyes gold, aren't they're supposed to be blue?"_ Looking back at the table Kai could see the others were watching him. "Did any of you guys put contacts on me or something?"

The group at the table shook there heads "no".

"I guarded you most of the day's ace, no one did nothing like that, though it would be a good prank." Billy stroked his chin giving the matter further thought. "And Suzi here watched you the night shifts like you were her pup or something, trust me, aint no one that could have snuck past her." He finished.

Kai noticed that the fur around Suzi's face had turned a rather interesting shade of pink, but decided to not call her on it.

"Is that, like normal for you guys?" Billy asked.

"Um no, no it's not." Looking back at the mirror Kai also noticed that his face was slightly different. His jaw was slightly squarer in shape, and a little narrower then he remembered. But it was his eyes that really threw him through a loop. _"They almost look like that woman's back at the ruins."_ That's when he remembered. "Slight changes huh, she sure has an funny idea of what slight means." Kai said softly.

"She who?"

Turning around Kai saw it was Suzi that had asked the question. "Um Suzi, can I talk to you for a moment?" Kai wanted to tell her at least what he thought was going on, but he wasn't quite sure if he could. He remembered Starlings message. _"You can trust the Sky Knights and their squadrons."_

"Um ok, what ya need." Suzi got up and came towards the young boy.

"I…I need to know, how well do you trust your squadron to keep a secret." Kai asked pensively.

Suzi studied the boys face for a moment before replying. "I would trust them with my life; they might not be the brightest lot, but their good men. You can trust them with anything." Suzi placed a reassuring hand on the boys shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze before leading him back into the dinning room.

"Ok, what I tell you guys can't leave this room." Kai paused for a moment before looking up at them. "My life actually might depend on it."

Kai retold the events as best he could, including most of the message Starling had left for him, leaving out only a select few details so she wouldn't get into trouble. When he was finished he could see that some of the Zero's mouths were gaped open, Suzi was just leaning against the wall, her expression more angry then surprised.

"So let me get this straight, that things as powerful as the Aurora stone?" Billy Rex looked at the black crystal with a slight amount of fear.

"It WAS as powerful, but that girl absorbed about three fourths of its power. Now it's just a little stronger then a fathom crystal, but not by much." Kai replied.

"You said that the dragon made you stronger and faster right?" Suzi asked without looking up.

"Yeah, why?" Kai had an idea where this was going, but wanted to make sure.

"Wanna take the package out for a test drive?" When Suzi looked up, Kai could see a sparkle in her eye. He knew that sparkle, it meant trouble, and pain, usually for some hapless male. And in this case, he was sure that it meant him.

Several minutes later the Zeros and Kai were in a large ice dome that was lit by numerous lunar crystals lined along the walls. Kai had never seen anything like it; Mesa rarely ever even got snow.

"What is this place?" Kai asked still looking around.

"This is our air raid bunker. It hasn't been used in a while, but if Blizzaris were to be attacked, this is where the noncombatants would go till the coast is clear." Billy answered.

The Zero's actually found it funny. They knew that not many terras's had as much snow or ice as Blizzaris did, but they still found peoples reactions at seeing the sheer amount they had to be entertaining.

"Ok so what are the rules?" Suzi shot Kai a leveled glare. Not threatening, but enough that Kai knew she was being serious.

"Umm, well, I still don't have a weapon, so hand to hand only, no fatal or crippling blows. Match ends when one opponent is unable to continue or verbally surrenders." Kai knew the rules; she had challenged him, so he got to set the rules, and if he wanted to, a suitable wager. But he was not about to put a wager on the line against a Sky Knight, dragon powered or not, people didn't make Sky Knight by fluke. _"Well, aside from Harrier."_ He amended.

"Fair enough." Suzi threw her fur lined over coat over to one of the guys who caught it and did a few stretches.

Kai meanwhile was trying o figure out how he was going to do this. _"Ok, what do I know about Suzi's fighting style? Zippo. Then what can I guesstimate?" _Kai took a few moments to quickly look over his opponents build and physical profile. _"Ok first of all, she's a girl, so she has a low center of gravity and more power in the lower muscles. Secondly she's a Blizzarian, so her legs are built like a jack rabbits, she probably uses a lot of kicks, rams, shoves, and sprint attacks" _These assessments lead him to one conclusion. "_Crud, she's a street fighter."_

"Alright, I want a good fight, it doesn't have to be clean, but make it a good show." Billy blew a whistle, and though Kai couldn't hear it he knew it went off because on of Suzi's long ears twitched.

As soon as the fight started Suzi dropped into a stance that Kai remembered reading about. _"Jeet Kune Do, great she's a kick boxer."_ Shaking his head Kai charged the girl, trying to feel out her range of attack. As soon as he got within five feet of her he saw her pulling back her left leg. _"So she's going for a Crain kick eh?"_ Kai continued with the charge and only at the last second stepped off to his right, dodging what he thought would be a kick, directly into her left fist.

"Ugh."

"Come on! Staring kept going on and on about what you could do. Let's see some fire, Dragon Boy!" Suzi taunted.

Of course this got the peanut gallery going.

"WOOOHHAAOO!"

"SHOW THIS HOSIER HOW WE FIGHT DOWN UNDER!"

"WOOOHHHH!"

"TAKE HIM DOWN GIRL!"

Kai wiped his jaw before getting back up. "Alright, here it comes!" Kai charged again, this time keeping his arms to his sides and slightly behind his back. When he reached what he would later dub the "kill zone" he threw himself forward into a forward flip placing his hands on the (thankfully) tile floor and turned on one hand, putting himself into a cartwheel.

Due to the suddenness of the move Suzi threw her punch early and overshot his head by a few inches while at the same time catching his left foot squarely in the chest, knocking her back slightly. She was quick to respond to this with a sweeping kick, that Kai narrowly dodged by jumping over it.

"Big mistake!" Before he could land Suzi threw her top leg from the sweeping kick backwards and caught Kai in the back, sending him to the ground face first.

Hard.

"WOOOOOUUUGGHHHHHHHH!!"

"COME ON SUZI!!"

"WOOAAAHHOOOOO!"

Kai slammed his fist at the ground before getting back up and charging again. _"I have to get inside her circle, inside her range so she won't be able to kick me."_ Kai sidestepped the skyward kick the nearly nailed his chin and pivoted to dodge her punch. Continuing with the pattern he had seen, he ducked forward to dodge the second fist only to catch a vicious heel kick to his back from the recoiling leg that he had narrowly dodged a few seconds earlier.

Suzi stepped away from Kai's form, giving him some room to catch his breath. "Aw I was expecting more then this. If this is the best you got then Starling really needs to brush up on her training."

_Pop_

"You can give up at any time, though I was hoping for a better workout than this, normally one of the boys can at least get me to work up a good sweat." Suzi again taunted Kai's battered form.

"Gggggrrrrrraaaaaaaaa!" Kai charged the woman again, this time dropping on all fours right inside of her kick range. Sure enough the kick came at him, but this time Kai dodged it by leaning backwards. However, before she could get back into her stance he grabbed the leg as it recoiled. "Uh uh uhh." Kai smirked while wagging his free hands index finger.

"Cute." Suzi smiled before throwing herself to the ground and bringing her other leg around for a roundhouse. Kai ducked this while still holding onto her other leg. As a result she was now facing the ground and standing on her hands.

Kai quickly changed his hold so he was now standing beside her with one arm wrapped around both legs at the knee.

Suzi narrowed her eyes for a moment before pulling both of her legs up towards her torso. Kai was confused by this, trying to figuring out what she was trying to do. When she had pulled them back close enough she was able to see her target. Quickly she let her arms go slack so that the boy would be holding her entire body weight, but before her head touched the ground she grabbed onto his legs and wrapped her arms around them tight. This had the desired effect of him letting go, but instead of falling backwards as she had planned, he fell forward and landed on top of her. Now Kai was not big, not by a long shot. But he did weigh around a hundred pounds, so this was more than enough to knock the wind out of her. Kai used the momentary distraction to grab both of her arms and pull them behind her back before he quickly sat down on her legs.

"Now I know that you're not going to give up, and you know that I won't hurt you to the point that you would. So why don't we call this one a draw?" Kai grinned; he had just tied with a Sky Knight.

"Not a bad idea, except for the fact that I'm still going to win this." Suzi's voice was not that of a taunt, or some false bluff. Kai could tell that she genuinely thought she was going to win this fight.

"And just how to you intend to do that? You're completely pinned." As soon as the words left his mouth Kai was hit by the back of Suzi-Lu's legendary hard head and immediately fell onto his back. He could still hear the cheers, hoots and hollers from the other Zero's in the back ground.

"Next time, make sure your opponent is completely immobile. I can tell that since you sat on my legs rather than stand you've already been taught this lesson once." Seeing the flash of pain cross Kai's face she knew that she had guessed right. "I'm impressed though; it's been awhile since anyone came close to pinning me; I almost managed to work up a sweat." She reached down and pulled him up, giving him a once over.

"You kick hard." Kai moaned out, earning laughs from the guys of the squadron.

"You think that's bad ace? She didn't get you with the widow maker. You'd be down for a week if she nailed you with that one." Billy said with a smirk.

"And you know this through prior experience, isn't that right Billy?" Suzi said as she put back on her fur lined coat.

At this comment the male Blizzarian stopped laughing and Kai saw him slightly cross his legs.

"Eh never mind ace. Ya did good there, not as long as we were hoping for, but still good." Billy Rex, like the rest of the guys were laughing, though Kai knew they weren't laughing at him, rather they were laughing at the memories of each other's past fights.

"He'll fit right in; we'll save this hosier yet." One of the Zero's gave Kai a hard slap to the shoulders sending him to the ground.

"Ouuuch, why are you guys so mean?" Kai pulled himself back up, rubbing his shoulder as he did so. Turning around he saw Suzi was rubbing the back of her head. "Hey you alright?"

Suzi stopped rubbing her head for a moment and looked up at her squad. "Yeah, I'm fine. Boy you've got a hard head."

"Ahh just put some ice on it." Kai didn't even think about what he said, but noticed the others got quiet all of a sudden. _"Ah man, I hope I didn't just insult them or something."_ Turning around he noticed all the guys' mouths hanging open.

A few seconds passed before then, they all fell to the ground rolling with laughter.

"HAHAHAHA! Man this guys alright for a hosier!" Billy managed to say between laughs as he gasped for air.

Suzi gave them each a whack with her halberd as she walked out of the bunker.

A few hours later Kai was laying on a fur covered couch made from (you guessed it) ice. He was deep in thought when a head poked out above him nearly sending him to the floor.

"AAHH! Don't do that!" Kai turned around to see Suzi-Lu was smiling as usual.

_Pop_

"I almost forgot, there was a box that came with the message crystal. I had the boy's put it on your bed." Suzi turned to leave, but stopped to look over her shoulder. "Ya know, it's ok for you to come outside. You're a guest, not a prisoner. Besides I'm sure you'll love the grinders, more fun than those skimmers you guys use." With that she left the building that served as the Zero's base.

As Kai made his way back to the room they had given him, he realized that the Absolute Zero's base was not too different from the Interceptors, other than being made entirely from ice. He had seen the hanger and sub basement, and while they were made from metal, they still had a layer of ice covering them. "They sure do love the cold." Kai said to himself as he continued walking. "Wait a minute." Looking down he realized that he was still wearing the same cloths that he had worn on the mission over a week ago, which were designed for tropical climates, not to mention that they were still sporting several tears from the girls clawed staff. "Why am I not cold?" Trying to think of a reason, he gave up and chalked it up to another "dragon" thing. Making one last turn he came to his room.

Sure enough, there setting on the bed was what Suzi had called "a box". In reality it was a suitcase. "I guess I really am going to be away for a while." Reaching around the suitcase he felt around for the zipper. Finding it he pulled it around and opened the top. "Let's see, she packed me one, two, three…five sets of cloths. I guess it's a start." He put the small pile off to the side and went back to see what else was in it. He found a blank book, which he guessed to be a journal for him to use along with several pens and pencils. Setting them aside he nearly jumped when he saw a familiar worn leather tome which he quickly pulled out moved his fingers over the barely visible title across the top.

"Atmosian Lore." Kai smiled still remembering the day that he got it.

_Flashback two years ago_

Kai was slightly miffed. The guys had made him miserable for the past two weeks. "Not my fault they didn't stay to help out. Why am I being punished for going to Terra Neon?" It had been two weeks since Kai and Starling had said farewell to the blond terror and his friends, and ten days since the two of them had returned from Terra Neon. Ten days of pure torture. At the moment he was sorting through the mail when he came across a package that was marked to him.

"I didn't order anything. Wonder what it could be?" Pulling out his pocket knife he made four quick slices along the edges.

"Atmosian Lore?" Kai's eyes were the size of dinner plates; he almost didn't notice the letter that fell with the wrapping. Opening it he couldn't help but smile.

_Hey Kai what's up? I hope you like the book; me and Aerrow were going through some of his dad's things and found it. I remembered that you asked for it the day you gave me the crystal book set. So I asked Aerrow if he would mind me giving it to you. It took a little convincing, but he handed it over eventually. Enjoy reading it!_

_Piper_

_Flashback End_

Putting the book aside he could see that all that was left in the suitcase were two boxes. One was a wooden case that he remembered seeing back at the HQ, the second was wrapped in purple paper and had a silver ribbon tied into a bow. He decided to open the wooden box first. Reaching in he picked it up and found it to be slightly heavy, about five pounds if he had to guess. He quickly found the two old brass latches holding it closed and flipped them up before lifting the top.

"Woah." Setting inside the old wooden box was an assortment of crystals, not very many, but they were all useful. "Let's see, a Solaris, a Lunar, a Floater, a Furnace, and four Strikers'. Not bad at all." He was about to put the box down when he saw something at the bottom. Moving the crystals over he found what had caught his eye.

It was a Lunar crystal, not all that rare really, but this crystal was very special to him. When Kai was young, very young, he was sometimes plagued by terrible nightmares. He tried eating, and even drinking warm milk before going to bed, but nothing worked, all because of one simple reason. Kai was afraid of the dark. _"Irony has a sense of humor I see."_ The crystal had been a gift from Starling when he was around six. It was a Lunar crystal that had been carved into the Interceptors insignia. Holding it in his hands Kai smiled ruefully at the gift. "I guess this will have to do for the next year." Kai placed the crystal on the little ice table beside his bed. Next, he turned his attention to the wrapped box. _"I won't be turning fifteen until three days from now, should I wait until then?"_ Reaching in, he picked up the second box.

It was about six inches wide, and fourteen inches long. It didn't weight that much, and it didn't make any noise when he shook it._ "I hope they didn't give me a sweater….again."_ Kai remembered last years gift quite well, Starling was in the hospital due to injuries from a mission, and the guys had forgotten until that afternoon. "Well it's not like I can get in trouble for opening it early." Kai carefully untied the ribbon making sure not to tear it, and then he pulled the tape off one end and slid the box out slowly. Getting a good look at it, he was puzzled at what it could be. The box was made of carbon fiber and solid black. Turning the box around, he found two latch releases and flipped them up. Taking a deep breath he opened the box.

It was beautiful, truly a work of art. Setting in the box laid three fourteen inch metal rods; each of which were linked to another by a carbon mesh line. Picking it up Kai pushed the three pieces together forming a three and a half foot short staff. Moving his hand down piece, he saw that the Interceptors insignia had been engraved into the center. Placing his hand over it he squeezed tightly.

_Shuuk_

The staff extended from a little over three feet to slightly less than seven. Spinning it between his hands experimentally he could tell that it was perfectly balanced and even proved it by balancing it with a single finger at its center. Looking closer he was able to see twist grips at the ends of the center piece. Twisting them caused the staff to retract to roughly five feet and release it into three equal pieces, each connected by about a foot and a half of mesh line.

"I don't believe it, a three part Bo staff." Kai twisted the grips in the center causing it to pull together into a single piece again, but then it collapsed down to a little over a foot in length. "This things a real piece of work. Someone must have spent a lot of time on this thing." Looking in the case again Kai found two things that had previously been covered by the tri staff. One was a leather leg holster, which he guess was for the staff; the other was messenger crystal. Picking up the crystal Kai sat on the end of his bed and watched as the message began to play. It was Starling again.

"Hello Kai. I wish that I could give this to you in person, but this is the best that I can do. If you are wondering about the staff, I made it myself. Its design is based on the same principle as my nun chucks, with the ability to connect in the center. In your training you showed an aptitude for poll arm weapons, but I knew that you would never use a bladed weapon against another person, so I figured a staff would be the weapon best suited for you. I decided to give you a three part staff rather than a normal Bo, is due to your ability to change fighting styles, and attack type seemingly on the fly. That is a very rare skill, and when combined with a suitable weapon it can make a formidable warrior. Since it is a staff type, it can hold three crystals, one in each section; this will further help you in developing a fighting style that is both flexible, and unpredictable, just as you have proven to be."

"Kai, this could very well be my last gift to you. We don't know what tomorrow will bring, or even what will happen before the days end. I, like the rest of the squadron will do everything in our power to be here waiting for you to return, please try to do the same for us. And so this is it, my final farewell to you, for now. Stay alive, grow strong, and remember, you will always have a home to return to. We will be waiting for you Kai."

"Goodbye."

The image flicked off, and the room was once again cast into darkness. Kai could have sworn that it was actually a little bit darker then it had been before playing the message. Kai's breathing hitched for a second. Even though he had been told yesterday, it wasn't until just now, that the reality of what was happening finally sunk in. For one year, he would not be able to return to his home, he would not be able to see his friends, and he wouldn't hear from his friends, he wouldn't even be able to write to them. Nothing.

Outside the door, two pair of ears drooped.

Billy took a step forward to go and give the boy some support, but was stopped by the second person.

"No Billy. This is something he has to do alone." Suzi's eyes held a fierceness that he had rarely ever seen before.

"Chief, he's just a pup. You can't be serious." Billy's face was twisted in disbelief.

"I'm dead serious Rex. The boy needs to grow up, and fast. The Sky Knight Council is after him and the Knights can only do so much to help; he has to learn how to fend for himself. You will speak of this to no one." With that Suzi-Lu turned and walked away, leaving Billy alone at the boy's door.

"_I hope you know what you're doing chief."_ Billy though as he too turned and left the boys door. With his keen since of hearing could still hear the boy's erratic breathing, and his nose picked up just a hint of salt in the air.

That night, as Suzi lay in her bed, she had two thoughts running through her mind. One was if she had done the right thing, following Starling's instructions to leave the boy alone, but it was the second thought that she was far more concerned about. _"Will we even be able to pull this off? The Sky Knights have never tried to keep a person hidden for an entire year! A few days, a couple of weeks, two months at most. But a full year? I just hope he's as strong as she believes."_

A few minutes later she was able to hear someone outside the compound, a few moments later that someone started howling. It was a sound that she was very familiar with, one she had heard many times since the war had started. It was a call of passing, of mourning. She knew it was Billy, and she knew why he was doing it to. Tonight, the two of them had witnessed the death of a young boy, his passing away from this world. She could only hope that he was strong enough to be reborn. That, and that she and the other Knights could someday be forgiven for what they would be doing. Before falling asleep, one last thought passed through her mind.

"_I will never forgive them for this, Never!"_

End Chapter 3

AN: I know, this story is a lot darker then it's companion series Broken Wing. But remember, this is war, and bad things happen in war. If you were confused about the bit at the end, take a closer look at the stories summery, that's the only clue you're getting. Now, this story is going to have some lighter moments, but for the most part it is going to be varying shades of grey. The reason I made it into a separate story is it doesn't fit with the theme of Broken Wing, that and this only covers a one year period. Broken Wing covers events in Kai life up until a specific event happens. I'm not telling you what it is though because it'll ruin the surprise, rest assured it is not Kai's death. That I don't see happening for a very long time. Til next time Ja Ne!


	4. Training Begins

The One Year Flight

Chapter 4 Training Begins

AN: Welcome to the fourth chapter of T.O.Y.F things will be picking up now. Kai has been in training for six years, but the next year is going to be murder. From what I can tell the average Sky Knight is between 22 and 30 years of age, Aerrow being a rare exception. The Knights are going to put Kai through what would normally be seven to eight years worth of training in one year. When it's all over he will be at Sky Knight Level. But keep this in mind people, Sky Knight does not equate to Squadron. Dark Ace is equal to Aerrow, slightly better actually, but he is no match for the Storm Hawks as a whole. Quality is better then quantity, but only to a point. Aerrow, on his own could not take out two hundred talons. This is applied to Kai, he will be Aerrows equal, but keep in mind that he is also four years older, so Aerrow has a lot more potential.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

Kai sat on the end of his bed. He had been up the entire night, but he didn't care, he didn't even feel tired. _"Yippe for dragons."_ Kai thought dryly as he got up. Looking at the limited cloths he had, he decided to blend in as best he could and changed into some cloths that Suzi had brought him yesterday. It wasn't much, just a fur lined version of the standard flight suit he already had. Picking up the leg holster he put the belt on, then tied the second strap to his leg a few inches above his left knee and placed the tri staff into it before walking into the room for breakfast.

"Well what do we do with him? He can't do our training. He's a hosier, besides I don't think he would last through it." One of the squadies said.

"Unless you forgetting how close he came to pinning Suzi, you never even came close there mate." Billy's voice replied.

Kai could head them but didn't care; right now he was driven by a singular need.

Food, and more specifically meat.

"Morning to ya!" Suzi called out from her spot at the table. She knew that he had heard the others talking, she was interested in seeing how he reacted. It was nothing major of course, but she wanted to know if pride was going to be a problem.

"Mmmm morning Suzi, you guys got any meat around here?" His eyes were barely open, but he could still see clearly.

Of all the things to say, that was the last one any of them had expected him to say first thing in the morning.

"We got some ace, but why you asking? Meat for breakfast?" Billy asked with a hint of amusement.

"I know, but it's weird. I can't think of anything other than meat. I feel weak, and for some reason I crave meat." Kai replied setting down between Suzi-Lu and Billy Rex.

Suzi thought for a minute before an idea hit her. "You said that you got some o the dragons traits right?" Suzi asked him.

_Pop_

"Yeah why?" Though awake, it was in Kai's opinion far too early to be thinking yet.

Billy caught on to Suzi's train of thought. "Eh I never studied much back in school, but weren't dragons like, really big, fire breathing lizards? The only thing they would have eaten is meat." The whole group turned to look at Billy like he had just single handedly defeated the Dark Ace. "What? I paid attention to some of the classes." Billy said in his defense.

"Yeah, the ones that had teachers you thought were cute." Suzi replied rolling her eyes.

Wheerrpshh

One of the guys at the other end made a wiping motion while another did the sound effect.

"Not true! There was that one cute sub." Billy retorted with a beaming grin.

The whole table erupted in laughter, including Kai.

_**GGGGGGRRRRRRRROOOOWWWWWWWW**_

The group stopped and stared at Kai who was clutching his stomach.

Banging his head on the table he was only able to speak in a whiney voice while he held his stomach. "Meat."

This of course caused another round of laughs. Thankfully being half canine, the Zero's were able to relate what he was going through. Regular humans had impulses and urges sometimes, especially if their bodies were low in a particular vitamin or mineral. But those who were closer to the animal half of the gene pool had it a bit harder. Blizzarians, Wallops, Merbs, Murks, and especially Raptors still had animalistic instincts that strongly influenced them, one of the strongest being a craving for meat.

Suzi, who had actually done very well in biology, idly wondered if he had any of the other big three. _"Only time will tell, but I'll pass that little bit on to the next group."_

The group watched in awe as the boy devoured an entire turkey in less than three minutes.

A _frozen_ turkey.

"That was good." Kai leaned back before feeling his stomach rumble.

_**Belch**_

Kai's eyes went wide as the guys fell to the ground laughing, Suzi just stared, her mouth half open.

"They felt that one at the other side o the terra!" Gasped Billy between laughs.

"Not bad for a hosier. I ant seen someone do dat without a load a soda before." Another of the guys managed to get out between laughs.

"Man we gotta hold on to him till the next Sky meet, he'll beat those Wallops no problem!" Another said laughing so hard that he was actually crying.

"Ok boys enough laughing, time for training." Suzi struck the ground with her halberd. Kai noticed her gaze was pointed at him in particular.

"Alright, since I'm new here, give me the run down." Kai got up and stretched for a second before walking up to Suzi. "So what's up first? Laps? Weights? Drills? What ya got?" As soon as the words left his mouth he noticed two things, one was that all the laughing stopped, the second was the glint in Suzi's eyes.

"Run down eh? Alright. Boy's, to the glacier!" Suzi pointed her halberd in Kai's direction.

The ride was fun. Kai was riding second seat with Suzi, she claimed it was so none of the guys would spoil the training surprise, but he knew better, it was so he couldn't get away. He had ridden on skimmers plenty of times before, both land and air mode, he had driven/flown plenty too, but beyond function and mechanics, a grinder was nothing like a skimmer.

For one thing, they were much, much faster, or at least the Zero's drove faster than he had ever gone. The other big difference was that they had no front wheel driver, or even tires. They only had a set of skis. All the power, and traction, came from the back of the vehicle. As he watched the others shoot by he wondered why they didn't just fly, it would have been faster after all. But he figured out why quickly enough.

Grinders were fun, unlike skimmers you didn't have to worry about landing them softy, you didn't have to worry about some part breaking, or bending an axle. This all added up to being able to hit any jump at any angle at full speed. He had heard on several occasions that the Zero's had a few loose screws, if that statment had any merit, Kai knew without a doubt what had loosened them, but he agreed with them that it was totally worth it.

About an hour later the group arrived at the glacier, at which point Suzi ran up the back side and emerged at the top with a little pole and flag which she planted at the top. "You want in with the Zero's you got to reach this!" She called out.

"That's it? Climbing ice?" Kai was starting to think things might be easier then he feared them to be. Of course this theory went up in a colossal ball of fire when he heard all the guys behind him laughing.

"Ohhh no, there's more to it ace. Turn around and face the grinders for a second." Billy pointed at the parked rides while flashing a huge grin.

Kai was nervous, he knew he could trust them not to KILL him, but he didn't know what else to expect beyond that. A second later he felt both of his hands get pulled behind his back and one of his feet get lifted from the ground. A second later they were tied together behind his back. So there he now stood, hopping on one leg. He could see the guys were all grinning. "Did you guys really have to do this?" He asked more than just a little suspicious.

"Yep. Worst day of my life ace. Now get on up that hill!" Billy gave him a shove towards the wall of ice causing him to fall face first into it.

"Ouch!" The group was able to hear him mumble a few curses into the icy ground as he tried to push himself back up. Thirty minutes lath he had given up on getting back up and was trying to crawl up the incline. Two hours later he gave up that idea. "SUZI!" He called out at the top of his lungs. Looking up he noticed that she was lying on her back getting a suntan. _"She has fur! What's the point?"_

Rolling over Suzi looked to see that the boy was in the same place he was forty minutes ago. "Yeah! What ya want?" Suzi was more than a little disappointed in the boy. Starling had spoken highly of him, but so far he hadn't proven to be much. Their fight had been short, even though he had some talent, Suzi was sure that Starling had been holding back on his training._ "Why would she hold him back on purpose? He should be twice what he is now. It almost makes you think that she wanted him to.."_ Suzi shook her head to clear the thought. No way would her friend do that, there had to be a reason for his lack in skill, not to mention build. Suzi knew that if Kai was going to have any chance of completing his training in the short amount of time that he had, they would have to take drastic measures.

"Can one of you give me a hand?" He shouted with more than just a little annoyance.

"This is training, not team training!" She called down the glacier.

"I don't need much! I just need someone to flip me over onto my back!" He shouted.

Now this caught her attention. _"Why would he want to be on his back?"_ Suzi thought it over for a few more seconds before finally giving into her curiosity. "Hey Billy!" She shouted. The guys had been playing a game of rugby, but when they heard Suzi, call they stopped.

"Yeah chief!" He called back.

"Flip em!" She shouted.

"Eh alright." Billy walked over to the boys humming body and flipped him so he was staring straight up.

"Thanks man, I've been trying to do that for twenty minutes now." Kai shot a grin before he planted his foot into the ground hard and pushed up. Once his leg was fully extended he quickly pulled his leg back up and pushed off again. The group watched in amazement as the boy skirted his way up the incline. He didn't stop the whole way up, and upon reaching the top he rolled back onto his stomach and inched his way to the flag. Stopping in front of it he grabbed it with his mouth and bit down and pulled back. There he lay, painting, out of breath, with the flag in his teeth. "So how's that for a hosier?" Kai grinned as he spoke, the flag still in his teeth.

"Not bad." Reaching down Suzi cut the rope loose and watched as he rubbed his sore wrist. "Why did you need help rolling over though? It's not that hard. And where did you even think to do that?" Suzi asked

"When Billy pushed me down, I packed down the ice around where my feet were, so I had nothing to push off of. As for where did I think of it. Not a clue, it just sort of popped into my head." Kai shrugged his shoulders.

"Well that's enough for today. You need to rest up cause from here on out were going to run you into the ground." Suzi walked away but turned when she noticed Kai was looking down the glacier. "What are you planning?"

Kai just grinned then jumped head first down the wall of ice.

"WWWWAAAAAHHHOOOOOOOOO!!"

The Zero's that were below heard the cry and turned to see the boy flying down the glacier head first.

"WWWWWOOOUUUUHHHHH!!"

"WWAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOO!!"

Suzi could only shake her head and smile. "Eh what the heck." Making sure her halberd was safely strapped to her back Suzi ran forward and dived into to wall of ice. "WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHOOOOOOOO!!"

While she was sliding down the sheet of ice, some bits and pieces of past memories started to filter through. Things she had heard, and things she had seen._ "Something is wrong with this entire situation. Why is he so weak? I know that Starling had trained him for at least six years, but he should be stronger than he was yesterday, and even today. Also, I know that Starling said he had been doing physical training, so where is the muscle mass? It makes no sense."_ Upon reaching the bottom, she brushed herself off and climbed back onto her grinder. She wasn't surprised when Kai jumped onto the back and wrapped his hands around her waste.

But, that's when it struck her, and her eyes became the size of basketballs_ "She said he was doing physical training, but she never said what type!"_

End chapter 4

AN: I know this ones short, but I thought this was a good spot to stop it. I figure that Kai will be with the Zero's for around two months before he has to be moved. I'm not quite sure who he will be with next, but I can tell you this. Kai was friends with Suzi before this occurred, as you all know. Now here what you didn't. He knows only three Sky Knights personally, the others he only knows from reading about or hearing about. He's very close friends with Starling, he's buddies with Suzi, but the third is an old nemesis of his from the past, someone he absolutely loathes and despises. Given a few little clues dropped in the previous chapters of this story and Broken Wing I'm sure you'll figure it out. Also, the bit at the end about the physical training is very important. Keep this in mind, there are many, many different types of physical conditioning, and not all of them involve muscle mass. Until next time, Ja Ne!


	5. Training Can Be Fun?

The One Year Flight

The One Year Flight

Chapter 5 Training Can Be Fun?

AN: Hello and welcome back to T.O.Y.F. The last chapter was kind of Kai's initiation into the Zero's. He will be staying with several different squadrons, but they will be mostly business like in the way they treat Kai. The Zero's are like his second family, the Interceptors being his first. This chapter will mostly focus on the Zero's unorthodox method of training, you'll see what I mean.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Kai was jolted from his sleep by a hand shaking him roughly.

"Come on ace. Sun'll be up soon!" He could tell it was Billy Rex waking him by the voice. It had been two days since the climb, and Kai was still waiting for the training to start. But for the last two days all they did was snowboard, ride around on the ice grinders and play games of snowball tag.

"I'm up, I'm up sheesh." Throwing his legs over the side of his bed, Kai rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The one thing that had seemed almost like training to him was the fact that they got up at four in the morning, and stayed up until eleven or twelve depending on the weather.

The worst it was, the longer they stayed up.

He made short work of breakfast, not even that hungry honestly. He figured it must have something to do with as Billy had aptly named it, his "lizard blood". He didn't get cold easily, his eye sight was for the most part excellent, and he hardly ever ate. The problems laid in those easily, most part, and hardly parts. He didn't get cold easily, but he quickly got hot if he had too many layers on, his eye sight was good during

the day, and even better at night, but during dawn and dusk he had no sense of depth perception and had a hard time gauging distance accurately. But it was the last one that caused him the biggest problem. He didn't eat often, only one meal every other day or so. The problem was that since he only ate one meal in seven, he ate seven meals at once. The only other major problem was his sleep. For the most part he was an extremely light sleeper, he would wake at the sound of someone sneezing at the other side of the compound, but when he actually did fall asleep, it was like he was dead. Billy had found a way to wake him however, but it nearly resulted in the poor Blizziran being decapitated.

"Don't even think about getting that air horn out again." Kai could hear Billy trying to sneak up behind him.

"Ah ace, where's your sense of humor?" He chided putting what was in Kai's opinion the worst creation of man on the table beside him.

"Buried under the same snow drift that you'll be if you ever use that thing on me again." Kai glared at the offensive little device, in fact, his eyes hadn't left it since Bill put it on the table. "So when do we start the training? I mean I've had some fun with you guys, but shouldn't we get started on it?" He didn't notice the odd looks being shot his way.

"Uh ace, we have been training. What do you think we've been doing the last three days?" Billy asked between a mouthful of…Kai didn't want to guess.

"I though we were just having fun. What does that have to do with training?" Kai was confused, for him training was running laps, lifting weights, or getting the snot kicked out of him by the guys or more often than not, Starling.

"That is how we train ace. Snow boarding helps increase your sense of balance, reflexes and reaction time." One of them answered as he swallowed a mouthful.

"Ice grinding trains your body to take shock and keep you alert." Another answered.

"And snowballs are easier on the face and back then crystal powered blast. So we throw those for target practice and evasive maneuvering." Billy finished the short explanation as he gnawed on a slice of frozen pie.

"Oh I get it. And the screaming helps to increase lung capacity!" He had figured it out; these guys had found a creative way the train for combat.

"Uh actually ace, we do that cause it is fun." Billy replied rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

"I think what he's looking for is the boring type those hosiers use." One shot out as he finished off the last of his meal.

"Well today he'll be getting back into that." The group turned to see Suzi with her halberd in hand. "Today we get to test that new toy o yours."

_Pop_

"Do you sleep chewing that stuff?" Kai couldn't help but asked. When ever she used to visit on Mesa she was chewing gum, which he had though was something she just happened to be doing whenever she was around them, but since he had arrived he found that she seemed to always be chewing the stuff. He couldn't even remember seeing her spit out one piece after it lost flavor, for all he knew it was the same piece she had been chewing all week.

"Actually, no I don't sleep chewing it."

_Pop_

"One of these days I'm going to figure out where you're keeping that stuff." He muttered under his breath.

"Don't even try ace, I've been trying since I first got on this squad, never even found a clue." Billy said shaking his head. They both noticed Suzi grinning at them.

_Pop_

"Ok, that was just to mock us." Billy said.

"I swear it's like she has a peeze dispenser for the stuff in her halberd or something." Shaking his head Kai got up and headed outside along with the rest of the group, never noticing the relieved look on Suzi's face.

"Whew, that was a close one." She flipped her staff upside down and pushed in a small silver plate. This opened the bottom and pushed a new piece upwards. "He almost figured it out."

_Pop_

The group met up in the bunker, since it was where they did their actual combat training. Kai was actually a bit nervous. The Interceptors were a special ops team, they mostly used an assortment of blunt weapons, one did use twin daggers, but he had never sparred with Kai, always busy with the mission reports. But looking around he noticed that the Zero's all used the same thing.

Axes

Except Suzi, she used a halberd, which was like an ax attached to the end of a six foot long staff.

_Pop_

"Ok boys, no crystals with the pup. I don't think he's quite ready for that yet." Suzi was barely able to hold back chuckling when she saw Kai's relieved face. "So how do you want to start this?"

Looking around Kai noticed they all had their weapons at the ready. Once again Suzi had challenged him, allowing him to pick the rules. "I'm not that sure, how did you guys start off?" He wasn't really sure what to do, he had never faced a blade before, the girls clawed staff back at the ruins was the sharpest thing he'd ever fought before.

"Star said you do good with a Bo, lets keep to that. Boy's you go o there and warm up." She pointed her weapons tip at the opposite end of the bunker and they quickly moved and started their warm ups.

Pulling his tri-staff out Kai released it to its full length, and then retracted it so it would suit his height.

"She planned on you having that thing for a while ya know." It was a statement, not a question. Looking up he could see Suzi was smiling. "That's one of the reasons it can do that, most don't adjust size." She walked towards him and stood off to his side. "Now I'm going to show you a kata, and I want you to repeat it as best you can. Taking a deep breath she started.

Kai watched the process. It was not very difficult, and she performed it slowly so he could follow its movements with almost no trouble. It was only twelve steps in total, but that was still more then he had ever done before, the most he was ever taught were eight. He closed his eyes and saw in his mind the movements; he took a deep breath, and then repeated it.

Suzi watched as the boy made his first attempt at the Kata. It was the simplest one that she knew, and hoped that they boy would be able to follow it. She watched him try, it wasn't bad for a first try, but he needed a lot more work. "Ok not bad for a first try, but you let your left arm come up to high on the third stroke. Watch." She performed the move the way he had, then the way she had. "If you keep your grip lower on the body of the staff, it will let you move faster on the returning fourth stroke." She explained as she showed him the third to forth motion set. "I want to see you do the third and forth movements fifty times." Taking a few steps back she pointed the staff at the ground and made a small stool out of ice. "Get to it!" She slammed the butt end of the halberd on the ground, slightly startling the boy.

Kai got into position and performed the third and fourth steps. It was tedious, but he knew that it had to be done and didn't bother complaining, since he feared that it would have the same results with Suzi as it did Starling.

More sets of the same steps.

Watching closely she could see that he was a fast learner, he was improving, but his hand kept slipping downwards and she couldn't understand why. But after he was on the thirtieth or so set she figured it out. "Stop." She got up and walked over to him, standing behind him and placing her hands overtop of his. "You only practiced with a wooden staff didn't you? She asked.

"Yeah. Why does it matter?" Kai was a little confused, and slightly startled when she placed her hands over his.

"With a wooden staff, you have more grip, so you don't have to hold it was firmly, with metal, if your grip isn't tight enough your hands will slip and move. Hold it the way you have been." She told him.

The boy dropped into the starting stance and held the staff the way he had been taught.

"That's what I though. " Suzi could feel the muscles in his hands holding the staff. The grip was only slightly loose, but it was still loose. She squeezed his hands until she felt they were at the proper tightness. "Keep your hands this tight ok? You won't be able to do some of the longer kata or some of the faster moving ones if your grip is even slightly loose." She stepped back and when to her ice stool. "Start over, fifty from the top." She watched as he performed the third to forth step and stopped him again. "I said from the top. That means from step one, not three."

Kai took a deep breath and surprised the urge to scream, he knew now that it would only add to the number of sets he had to do.

Watching from the sides, the other members of the Zero's could see the boy as he was trying to follow their leader's movements.

"So how long ya think this hosier will last?" One of the asked.

"He'll last until he's finished." Billy quickly answered.

"No way he'll last through the whole thing, he's having trouble with the first set." At this Billy turned towards his fellow squadie, grabbed his green beanie cap and pulled it down over his face.

"There now you can use the excuse that you're blind." Billy said as he turned back towards the two training._ "He might be having trouble now, but no way will quit until he's done with it. Suzi, give him your worst."_ Anyone watching could see the wolfish grin spreading across his face.

"Alright, I think you have the first one down. Now let's get to work on the second set. It's a little longer, but you can use it as a continuation of the first kata. To start it you have to be in a crouched position, so you need to learn how to do a stance transition from a horizontal swing to a crouched reverse hold. I'll show you the transition, and then I'll show you the second kata ok?"

This was all flying way over Kai's head. He had learned a few transitions, but the pace Suzi was going at was torturous. "Ok, but can you slow down a bit? I need some time to absorb all this."

"You will have time to rest next year. Until I get word to move you, you're on my squad, which means if you want me to keep training you, you will follow my orders." Suzi's eyes narrowed and Kai thought he had majorly screwed up. "When you are training, I am you squad commander, when I am your squad commander, I expect you to follow my commands. Now I'm only going to do this once, so I expect you to pay attention." As she finished she dropped into the last step of the first kata, holding the halberd in front of herself pointing to the left, she then spun in around her wrist while at the same time turning her body away from facing Kai and dropping into a single leg crouch. When she had finished the transition she was facing away from Kai and holding her halberd in her left hand behind her back. Her right leg was bent as would be when crouching, but her left leg was out to the side, her foot on the ground almost like she was stretching. "You don't have to drop to the left, if you're more comfortable with your right side then use that; the important thing is to hold your staff in the hand opposite of the leg holding your bodyweight. That way you can attack while at the same time evade without worrying about tripping yourself up or cutting off your foot."

Kai was taking it in as best he could, he noticed that she was still moving slower then normal, but she had sped up compared to the previous example provided. _"And she still hasn't even shown me the kata yet, I hope it's nothing too hard."_

The entire day continued like this. Kai was drilled over and over. In all he made it through five full kata, and had managed three transitions. But he was a long way from actually getting them down, and nowhere close to mastering them.

On the trip back to the compound Billy decided to have a little chat with their commander.

"Lu, what are you doing?!" Though his voice was a forced whisper, the aggravation was as clear as water.

"What? I'm training him." Suzi kept her voice as low as she could, but she knew that if he wanted to, the boy could still hear them easily.

"Oh that's what you called it? From where we were watching it looked like you were trying to break him more than anything else. You drilled the poor pup into the ground! Are you trying to make him give up?!" The last part came out as a snarl.

"Unless you forgot, I am your commanding officer, I am the squadron commander, and I make the decisions around here. That pup is my responsibility as long as he is here, and I will not be responsible for his death!" Suzi's voice had started full of venom, but ended in a shudder. Billy could see that her eyes were clouding up.

"Lu, he aint gona die, that's what we're for remember? You want to help him, I can understand that, but you can't treat him like he's one of us squadies, like you said he's a pup, he aint no top dog like us, not yet." _"This is the first time she's taut, she's worried bout whether she's a good teacher or not." _"Look, Lu, I know your new to teaching a single person, but." He never got to finish.

"If anything happens to him, Starling will blame me for it. I've already had to tell one person their pup didn't make it, aint coming home. How would I tell someone that's like a sister to me that her little brother, whom she trusted to me, is gone? I won't let that happen, not again. I don't know how long he's going to be here, but when he leaves I'm going to make sure he takes as much with him as he can." With that she turned and continued towards the compound.

"_She still blames herself for that pup."_ Billy shook his head and went inside the compound, intent on finding a way to help his new little brother.

Suzi, while being truthful, hadn't completely told Billy the reason she had run Kai into the ground. _"I think I know what Starling was doing with him, but I won't know for sure until tomorrow. If I'm right, he just might be able to pull this off yet."_

End Chapter 5

AN: I know Suzi seems a bit OOC here, but trust me it will make since later. She's not bipolar either. Next chapter, the secret of Starling training will be revealed! Til next time, Ja Ne!


	6. Starling’s Secret Revealed

The One Year Flight

Chapter 6: Starling's Secret Revealed!

AN: Welcome to the sixth chapter of T.O.Y.F. There will be a time skip inside this chapter, but not a big one, just one week. This chapter might be hard to read for some people, but it is important. See, I didn't want to make Kai a stereotypical fighter, so I decided to have him specialize in what is one of the rarest forms of combat know to man. It's rare for a reason, not because it requires any special gift or talent, but because not many people are willing to learn it. I've dropped a few hints in the past few chapters as to what it is, but I won't outright say it until next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Morning came, and the Zero's dragged themselves to breakfast. Billy wasn't surprised to see Suzi already in the commons room, having already eaten.

Billy marched up to his flight lead and was about to launch a verbal assault when he saw a smug grin appear on her face.

"I was right." He heard her say under her breath.

Turing around he was shocked to see Kai, stretching against one of the ice walls._ "What on Atmos? He shouldn't even be able to walk after yesterday, but he's acting like nothing even happened. What's going on here?"_

After breakfast, the group returned to the ice dome. The guys were practicing amongst themselves, and Suzi was training Kai. Since there was an odd number, one person had to sit out, and Billy volunteered, wanting to watch the pup's progress, and to figure out what was happening with Suzi.

"Ok, I want you to do one hundred sets of the kata we went over yesterday. You can do one hundred of each stand alone, or you can do them in order of sequence. Whichever you are more comfortable with." Suzi sat on her ice stool and watched.

"_Ok, you can do this."_ Closing his eyes, Kai ran over the kata and the transitions from yesterday through his head. Then opening his eyes, nodded, and begun.

Suzi was slightly surprised. Though it was apparent that he would still need quite a bit more practice, he had the basic concept of the kata down. It took him three hours, but he managed to complete all one hundred sets. "Good, now, let's see you do one hundred more."

"What!? I just!"

"Two hundred more." Suzi said narrowing her eyes._ "That's right, lose your temper. Show me what Star did pup."_

"Grrr Fine." Kai was about to start when Suzi spoke up.

"Two hundred and fifty."

Kai didn't even respond, he just squared his shoulders and started from the first step and went through the sets, one after the other.

"Chief, what are you doing?" Billy whispered. Though he was at the other end of the dome, he knew that she could here him.

"I'm trying to see if my hunch is right." Suzi replied in the same hushed tone.

Billy knew that this was a delicate situation, but he was confused at what Suzi meant by her hunch. So he decided to watch and only intervene if need be.

Six hours past and Kai finished the last step of the last kata.

"_I knew it. Starling, you've given him the chance he needs."_ Suzi smiled at the thought of what her friend had done for her young ward. "Ok, wrap it up. Let's get out of here.

The group left and returned and Billy once again strode up to his commanding officer. He was shocked to see the wolfish grin on her face. "Chief, what was that back there? Just what are you." Before he could finish Suzi turned to face him.

"Billy, I know that this might not make sense right now, but you need to trust me. I know what I'm doing. I figured it out."

The next day was the same, as was the rest of the week. The only difference was that the number of sets increased as each day went by. Billy trusted Suzi enough to believe her when she said that she knew what she was doing, so he held back his tongue.

After the first week passed however, he was no longer able to hold it back. After a particularly grueling session, he confronted her.

"Suzi, what are you doing? That pups muscles have got to be shredded to pieces by now! I've done as you asked, but enough it enough. You've got to hold back, he can't take this kind of pace." Billy was growling, never before had Suzi done anything like this, not even to them.

"Billy, believe me when I say this, he can take far more than I'm giving him." Looking up, he noticed the smile on her face. "It took me a few days, but I finally figured out what it was that Starling was doing to him all these years."

"What? I thought you said she was cuddling him?" Billy, though still angry, was now curious.

"I thought she was holding back because he had so little actual muscle mass. That's because I had assumed that she would be trying to make him stronger." Suzi said still grinning.

"Isn't that what physical training if for Chief? To make you stronger?" Now Billy was confused.

"Not in every case. Tell me, have you noticed anything strange about what has been happening for the last week?" She asked.

"Aside from you riding into the ground, no." Billy replied. Though he had calmed down, his tone still had trace amounts of venom.

"I've been hard on him yes, but have you noticed anything, anything at all about Kai himself?" She asked.

Thinking back, Billy tried to see what she was getting at. _"For the past week all she's done is make him do set after set of kata. He hasn't really done much else, though I still don't get how he's even able to.."_ Then, it clicked. When Billy looked up, Suzi knew that he had finally understood what she had discovered.

"Looks like she was expecting something like this, that or she was trying to make a pocket sized dreadnaught out of him. Get some rest; tomorrow is when we'll see exactly how much she's put into him."

It took a few moments for Billy to register that he was now alone, but when he did he complied and went to bed. A single thought running through his head._ "What kind of training did she put him through?"_

The next day, the group returned to the ice dome, but things would prove to be far from normal.

"Alright Kai, today you won't be practicing kata." Suzi was interrupted by his shout of triumph.

"Finally! Are we going to actually do something new for once?" Kai asked grinning.

"Yes, yes we will. Today, you will be fighting against the Zero's, excluding me of course. I'll be judging. You are allowed to use your staff, the boy's will be unarmed since there are five of them and only one you."

Kai balked at what he was hearing. "Five against one! Are you crazy?!"

"Zero's, ready, attack!" Suzi shouted leaping back from the soon to be fight area.

Years of training kicked in and the five Zero's leapt into action; they knew better that to question Suzi's orders.

Kai just barely had the time to pull out his staff to deflect the attacks. Dropping into a defensive stance he brought his tri-staff around to block the first charge, but was unprepared for the second and third, both ramming into him and knocking him to the ground.

"GET UP! YOU CAN'T EXPECT YOUR OPPONENT TO WAIT FOR YOU TO BE READY!" Suzi shouted.

Kai rolled to the side just in time to avoid getting his head crushed by a dropkick. He then got back to his feet, only to get thrown back down on his back.

"Grrr, This is getting old!" Kai got back up and pivoted, managing to dodge the next assault, then ducked under the next. When he up righted himself however he was caught off guard and thrown back. He didn't fall from the blow, but as he tried to regain his footing another attack sent him crashing.

While this was happening, Suzi watched on. Her keen eyes taking in every little detail._ "Kai, I'm sorry for this, but if I'm going to train you, I need to know just how much you can take."_ She watched as he took blow after blow. He had managed a few counter attacks, and even managed to land a few solid blows. But it was obvious to anyone that was watching that he was losing.

Badly.

It hurt her to see him take such a pounding, but she had to know.

Kai pushed himself up, only to be once again tackled to the ground. _"Come on Kai, it's just like back at Mesa. It's just like sparring with Star."_ Kai rolled to his side and pushed himself off the ground. Using the momentum, he brought his tri staff around and hit one of the Zero's like a baseball.

The Blizzarian was stunned for a minute, but he quickly sprung back into the group attack.

While this was happening Billy found himself both astonished and sickened._ "He's taking all this like he's used to it. What did Starling put him through?"_

The fight continued for close to an hour, but then, it happened.

Billy flew into Kai's back with a powerful shoulder ram. The boy fell forward just as he had many times before. But this time, when he tried to push himself up, he only got up halfway before collapsing back onto his face. He tried to get up one more time, but didn't even make it up halfway before falling.

"Star, I'm sorry." His grip loosened, and the staff rolled out from his hands. The last thing he was aware of was hearing Suzi shout something.

The Zero's were circled around the boy's unmoving form. Suzi had told them to halt the attack and rushed to them.

"All of you head back to base; you've got the rest of today, and tomorrow off." She said as she rolled to boy over.

"I said you are dismissed. That includes you Billy." She said without turning to face him.

"Chief, was that really necessary? To push him that far?" Billy asked.

"Yes it was. I needed to know exactly what he is capable of." She responded. Turning to look at her squad mate, she swallowed before continuing. "Do you think he'll ever forgive me?"

This surprised Billy. Here he had thought that she no longer cared about anything other than training the pup. But now he could see. He could see that she felt every blow that hit him; it hurt her as much as it did him. "I can't say." Billy wanted to reassure her, but he wasn't going to lie. He saw her pick up the boy and carried him back to the base. After a few seconds passed, he followed.

End Chapter six

AN: So, did anyone figure it out? I know that this chapter was kinda, harsh. But next chapter is going to be good I promise.


	7. Understanding Oneself

The One Year Flight

Chapter 7 Understanding Oneself

AN: Welcome to the seventh chapter of T.O.Y.F. This chapter will explain exactly what it was that Starling trained Kai for, also, there will be some flashbacks. Also, I wanted to thank MissDedodakes and LoveFlame, since they are the only ones that have reviewed for a while now. I'm not a review hog, but they do help me improve, and who doesn't appreciate a few kind words every now and then.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

"Dragon voice" Same as Master Cyclonis when extremely peeved in the show.

Kai slowly opened his eyes. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust, but he was instantly aware of two things. One, it was nighttime, and two, someone was holding him.

"So, you finally waking up sleepy head?"

Looking over his shoulder, the young boy jumped when he saw just _who_ was holding him. "AAHH! Suzi! What are you doing in my room?!"

"Your room? You might want to look around." She said almost teasingly.

It was then that he noticed that he was indeed not in his room; rather he was in Suzi's. She had been kneeling over him, seemingly waiting for him to wake up.

"How do you feel?" She asked getting his attention.

"Hu? Oh, a little stiff, kinda sore, you know, the way a person FEEL'S WHEN THEY GET BEAT UP IN A FIVE ON ONE FIRGHT!" Kai shouted. When he saw the hurt expression on Suzi's face he calmed down, just a little.

"I, I know that your, probably upset, but." She didn't even get a chance to finish.

"A LITTLE! A LITTLE UPSET! I thought we were friends! And here you set me up!" Though he was holding back quite a bit of venom, the amount that was still leaking from his voice was taking its toll.

Suzi's ears seemed to droop a bit lower with every word Kai spoke. Sure she had expected him to be a bit upset, but never would she have expected to be on the receiving end of such hostility. "Kai….I…I needed to know. I'm sorry, but there was no other way to test you."

"Test? That was a _test._" Kai's voice had lowered to the point of a throaty grumble. Though it was barely above a whisper, to Suzi, it felt like she was being dipped in subzero water.

"Hey!" Turning, Kai came face to face with an extremely irate Billy Rex.

"What?" Kai hissed.

"Look, I know you're not in the best of moods, and you have every right to be mad, but don't you think that you at least owe her a chance to defend herself?" Billy's voice, while calm, came out as a half growl.

Kai turned, and gazed directly into Suzi's emerald green eyes. "You have one chance."

Suzi suddenly became very nervous. She was only now getting used to Kai's eyes being a dull gold color, but seeing them suddenly shift to a smoky grey with narrowed slits for pupils was unnerving to say the least.

"I _suggest_ that you change your tone when addressing a superior officer while you're at it." Billy growled.

Kai remained silent, either he hadn't heard Billy, or the more likely explanation, he didn't care.

Swallowing, Suzi decided to intervene before things got any worse. "Starling had told me that she was putting you through physical conditioning several years back. I was curious as to why you had such little muscle mass for someone that had undergone over five years of training." Pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts, Suzi continued. "It was after the second day of your training that I noticed, and several days ago I was almost positive that I had it figured out. Two days ago confirmed my theory."

"And what might that theory be?" Though his voice was no longer influenced by the shadow crystal, it still packed a punch.

Billy was about to remind Kai, but Suzi stepped in.

"I take it that you did very little weight lifting, am I correct?"

Kia nodded in affirmation.

"You did mostly running, swimming, climbing, and you probably sparred for at least two hours a day. Is this correct?" Suzi asked.

"Yes, but it was three hours of sparring a day, usually with Star. But I fail to see what this has to do with the fight." Kai's tone was still the same; Suzi knew that she was at best going to be on the pup's bad list for a while.

"You were being trained the same way that both she, and the rest of the Interceptors were." Suzi said turning to look away from the young boy.

"So what? She was training me the same way all squads are trained, that doesn't answer my question." Kai narrowed his eyes further, to the point that he actually looked almost like a serpent.

"She didn't say you were trained the same way as squadrons were, she said you were trained the same way the Interceptors were." Billy said gritting his teeth.

Closing his eyes, Kai reviewed what he had been told._ "So what? That is still no excuse for what she put me through."_ Then, it clicked.

_Flashback two years ago_

Kai watched as Suzi-Lu and Starling sparred. The fight was pretty much even. Suzi had more power in her blows, but Starling was faster, ducking under and around Suzi's strikes almost like she was dancing.

Then

"HHHHHIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYEEEEAA!" Suzi landed a Crain kick, knocking Starling up several feet and flat on her back. Before she landed however, she touched off with one hand and landed in a crouch before charging the Blizzarian.

"You've got to do better than that Lu." Starling taunted as she ducked was weaved around the unyielding assault.

"You can't keep dodging forever!" Suzi shouted as she picked up speed. Her attacks became so fast, they were almost a blur, but Starling was still able to dodge most of them.

"I don't have to." Starling said with a teasing grin.

A few minutes passed, and Suzi had managed to land several direct blows, but each and every time she would land a hit, Starling would get back up as though it were nothing and then land six blows in return.

Suzi stopped, out of breath, covered in sweat, and using her halberd as a crutch. "Fine, I give up."

Starling just smiled before bowing and leaving the spar circle.

_Flashback end_

Suzi could see that Kai was deep in thought, but she needed to make sure that he understood the complete picture. "Kai." The boy's eyes shifted to hers._ "At least their back to being normal….ish."_ "Kai, the conditioning you were put through was elite endurance type. Do you understand what this means?"

"Not in particular, I read something about it a while back, but no, not really." He responded coolly.

"What it means is, that with further training, you should be able to outlast any opponent, no matter their level of skill or power. Every person has a limit to how long they can fight, and how much punishment their body can take. While you might not be the fastest, nor the strongest, you should be able to defeat both extremes."

"Care to explain?" Kai's tone was now at mild disdain level, but Suzi could tell that she had at least managed to get his attention.

"You are not a strike class fighter like the Third Degree Burners. If you were to go toe to toe with them, you would meet a quick and rather painful end, but you're fast enough to dodge and counter attack every one of their attacks. Now, compared to a blitz fighter like us, your only half as fast, and would be hit far more frequently than we would, but by the time you'd finally be brought down, more than half of us would be out from exhaustion." Suzi explained.

"So, what this means exactly is….?" Kai had an idea of what they were thinking, but he couldn't be absolutely sure.

"What it means is, the longer you fight, the slower and weaker your opponent is going to get, but you should be able to maintain peak combat performance the entire time." Billy answered.

"With proper training, no single opponent would be able to defeat you, excluding someone that is exponentially more powerful, or has intimate knowledge of your fighting style." Suzi added.

"So you're telling me that I was trained to get beat up? That's it?" Kai asked with some of his previous venom returning.

"No! Not in the least. Kai, just because your training makes it so you can take a punch is no reason to let the opponent actually hit you in the first place. If you can take a beating, while at the same time dodge most incoming attacks, there is little chance of you losing a fight." Suzi said trying to keep the boy calm.

"Yeah? Then why did I get ANNIHILATED in that last spar?!" Kai's anger was rising again and Suzi knew she had to calm him down.

"Kai, that was an extreme test to see your absolute limit. You might think that you did badly, but in reality, you did better than most squadies would have. You were able to stand a beating from five opponents for over an hour, and while I would have been able to defeat them in a quarter of that time, there is no way that I would have been able to take anywhere near half the punishment that you did."

Kai listened closely to Suzi's voice, and was surprised to find that she was being completely honest.

"I can second that. If any of us took the beating you did, we'd been in bed for a week minimum. I still can't believe that you were only out for one day." Billy added.

Taking a deep breath, Kai looked up at the two. "I…I need some time to think." Getting up, Kai headed in the direction of his room without even taking a glance at the rooms two occupants.

When he was gone, Billy put an arm around Suzi's shoulder and gave her a slight shake. "Don't worry bout it chief. He's never held a grudge before, why would he now eh?"

Suzi let out a dry laugh. "Forgetting about Harrier are we?"

"Aw come on, it's Harrier, besides, he had it coming." Billy answered jokingly.

"Do you think that…" Suzi was cut off.

"You should know that answer better than anyone." When he saw that she understood, he decided to try and get her smiling again. "Besides, you're the one that's always saying I don't."

Meanwhile, Kai was being assaulted by a flood of memories.

_Flashback five years ago_

"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!" Ten year old Kai shouted pointing at a rather thick flight suit.

"It's you new training suit. You are to be wearing that from now on during all training, and yes that includes spars.

"This thing must weigh twenty pounds! You can't be serious."

"Oh, I'm serious alright." Starling returned his glare and raised it several levels higher.

_Flashback six months later_

"Here, put these in the shoulder, arm and shin guards." Starling said handing several flat grey disklike objects to the boy.

"What are these? They weight like, five pounds each." Kai said holding one of the six in one of his hands.

"That's about right, they should be six each. These on the other hand are ten pounds each." She said holding up two larger disks.

"Where do those go?"

"The back and chest, for the next few months, then they will replace the ones in your guards." She said placing them in the slots.

_Flashback end_

"_So that's why she had me wearing the weight suit. It was to increase my endurance. That also explains all the laps around Mesa each day."_ Kai rolled over to his other side unable to sleep. _"But why would she have trained me like that without telling me?"_ Running the thought through, he figured out the answer pretty quick, and actually felt stupid that he hadn't figured it out sooner._ "I never asked her, I just accepted it as normal training."_

_Flashback_

"Get up!" Starling drove a fist into the ground his head formerly occupied.

Moving as quickly as he could, Kai dodged each strike that he could, but he was tiring out quickly.

"Star, I can't keep this up much longer." Kai panted trying to catch his breath.

"Well, you'd better find a way to keep it up. You've still got another ten minutes left." She replied before once again throwing him to the mat.

_Flashback end_

Clinching his fist, Kai decided to sleep on the matter before doing anything else._ "I need to pull myself together. Tomorrow I'll apologize to Suzi."_ Kai thought before passing back into the darkness he had woken from no more than an hour earlier.

End Chapter 7

AN: Well, I hope that explains it a bit better. I will say now that eventually Kai will develop a second fighting style, the all out blitz assault that you are probably more familiar with from the other stories Kai has appeared in wont come along for a while longer. Please Review!


	8. Problems, Solutions, and the Mark

The One Year Flight

Chapter 8 Problems, Solutions, and the Mark.

AN: Welcome to the eight chapter of T.O.Y.F. First of all, I want to thank those of you that have reviewed. It really means a lot to me, knowing that those who read my hard work both enjoy and appreciate it. Now, I will say this once again, keep you minds out of the gutter when reading the Kai/Suzi interaction. As far as they are concerned, they see the other as an older/younger sibling, NOTHING MORE. I don't write _those_ kinds of stories. Also, this is a very (note underlined) very important chapter regarding Kai's character.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, Rose, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

"Dragon voice" Same as Master Cyclonis when extremely peeved in the show.

The next few days were tense. Kai had apologized to Suzi the following morning, but there was a noticeable difference in how the two interacted. Suzi had eased up on the training, but the young boy was still a bit distant. Finally havening enough of the tension that hung in the air, Billy stepped in.

"When are you going to get over yourself?"

Turning, Kai shot Billy a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?

"When are you going to let what happened last week drop? You do know that your hurten Lu right ace?" Billy asked while learning against the wall.

"Look, I understand why she did it, but, I just need a little time ok? I'm still trying to adjust to everything that's changed, and that really didn't help things out." Kai said as he put up a few things in his room.

"Alright, but if you can't get over losing in front of a girl, what'cha gonna do when you lose to one eh?" Billy said trying to add a bit of humor to the atmosphere.

"I'll be fine. In the last five years, I only beat Star once, so I'm kinda used to it you know." Kai then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Ya know, you might want to tell that to the chief, she's hurten pretty bad right now. I know you apologized, but you really need to make sure that she knows." That's when he heard it. A long high pitch whistle.

Kai noticed Billy's ears twitching and thought he could hear something, but it could have just been the wind.

"Come on, something's up." Billy turned and ran to the main room. When Kai arrived he saw that the entire squadron was there waiting for him.

"What's going on?" Kai noticed that the mood was….less than enthusiastic.

"Kai, we've just received word from Carver that the Red Eagles are on their way here." Kai couldn't help but notice the apologetic tone Suzi's spoke with.

"So what? I've only met Carver like once or twice, so I'm pretty sure that I haven't done anything to him to make him angry." Once again, he noticed the looks of those around him.

"Kai, you know that the Red Eagles are the squadron of terra Atmos correct?" Suzi asked in a serious tone.

"Yes, I know all the squadrons. But what does that have to do with anything?" He asked.

"Think about it, the council is after you. The council is on terra Atmos. Now, you didn't really think that a bunch of old geezers would come looking for you in person did you eh?" Billy asked.

"So…the Red Eagles are not to be trusted then? But I thought that." Before he could finish, Suzi cut him off.

"Kai, Carver was the one who warned us. They are to be trusted, but you are not to have any contact with them. It's the only way to keep both you and them out of trouble." Suzi replied.

"Ok, so what do we do? You want me to go hide in the meat locker or something?" Kai asked. He already knew the answer, but the atmosphere was getting to him. That and he couldn't stand seeing the depressed looks on the others faces.

"Nah, no room, but not a bad idea. Hey, we could put the council guys in there; it would help them chill a bit eh? Billy said giving Kai a noggie.

Suzi watched the two and smiled. "Kai, I'm sorry, but we have no other choice but to relocate you."

"Um, Su, it's morning, small words if you don't mind?" Kai asked rubbing his head. He hoped that she would understand. It wasn't that he didn't understand what she was saying, but humor was one of the ways they had bonded in the first place, it was his way of saying everything was ok.

"It means that today you're moving." Suzi said grinning.

"Which means that you need to pay up your rent." Billy added.

"Rent? What are you talking about? I never agreed to pay any rent!" Kai knew that Suzi and Billy were acting, but he doubted the rest of the squadron did if their faces were any indication.

"You nearly ate us out of house. You can't expect us to just let you go scot free." Billy said trying to keep a straight face, but failing utterly.

Giving a small laugh, Suzi then cleared her throat. "All joking aside, this is serious. Kai, you need to pack up as fast as you can. Billy, would you bring out my grinder and make sure it's ready?"

Kai and Billy both nodded and went off in different directions.

A few minutes passed and Kai had nearly finished packing. He decided not to wear his holster during the flight so as not to loose it or his tri staff. He was surprised to hear a knock on the door.

"Come in!" He called out over his shoulder. He was double checking to make sure that nothing important was left behind or forgotten. He also had to make sure that there was no trace of his ever having been there, that way the Zero's wouldn't get in any trouble with the council.

"Kai?"

Turning around, he was surprised by what he saw. He had seen many different sides of the Zero's since arriving a few weeks ago, but this was a new one. Never in a million years would he have bet that Suzi-Lu could be nervous about anything.

"Hey Su, what's up? Time for me to go already?" Kai joked.

"No, not quite yet, but we be leaving in a few minutes." She replied.

"Um, Su, are you ok? You seem a bit jumpy." Kai remarked.

"I, uh, Kai. I wanted to; I wanted to say that I'm sorry about last week. I should have told you ahead of time what was going to happen." As Suzi spoke, her eyes never left the ground.

"Hey, I told you it was ok. I understand why you did it. It's just that so many things are happening, and I haven't really had a chance to pull myself together since this all started. I guess that I took it out on you and, I'm sorry." Kai lowered his head, half in guilt, and half in shame.

"It's ice under the bridge, so don't worry about it. But, I, I do have something I want to give you, but only if you want it." Suzi said stuttering.

Now Kai was curious. "If you're willing to give me anything after what I did, there is no way that I couldn't accept it."

Suzi nodded and approached him. "You, you have done very well since you arrived, and I want you to know that I am very proud of you, both for what you are doing, and for how well you are doing. I, I also wanted to thank you, for everything that you have done." When she finished speaking, Suzi dropped down to Kai's level so that she was face to face with him. "Kai, what I'm about to give you is very, very special. It is something that I have only given to one other person since I became Alpha."

Kai wasn't sure what it was, but he could tell from the look in Suzi's eyes that this was something that border lined sacred. Not sure if he should speak, he nodded his head telling her he understood.

She looked him directly in the eyes and placed her hands on his shoulders, and after a few seconds, she spoke. "I Suzi, Alpha of pack Lu, mark you as part of my pack. Your fight is our fight, our fight, is your fight. We shall heed your call as you shall heed ours." As she spoke, Kai felt her pull the collar of his flight down slightly. "Let all who see this mark know, that to stand before you, is to stand before us." As soon as the word 'us' left her mouth, she darted forward and bit the junction between Kai's neck and shoulder.

Hard.

To his credit, Kai remained both silent and motionless the entire time.

A few seconds later she pulled away and once again looked him in the eyes. "I welcome you, little brother." She said as she smiled warmly.

Kai was about to ask if this had been nothing more than a joke, but he could tell from the look in her eyes that this was something very important to her. Yet at the same time, it felt strangely familiar to him. He knew for a fact that he had never read about anything like this before, nor had he seen it, but it was familiar.

"I, who have no pack, shall with yours now run." He didn't know where the words came from; they just seemed to spill out. Upon seeing Suzi's eyes grow wide however, he thought that he had done something wrong.

"Kai, tell me, and this is very important, tell me who told you those words." Her hands were squeezing his shoulders tightly. What really worried him though was the frightened expression she now wore. He had never seen her this shaken up before.

"Nobody. It was…it was like, I've been through it before, or I've seen it done before." Kai closed his eyes in concentration. "It's like; I saw it in a dream a long time ago. But, it was different."

"Kai, I need to know, are you absolutely certain that nobody told you those words, or that you didn't read them somewhere?" Suzi's expression was hard to read. It was a mixture of fright and confusion.

"I swear, I've never read anything about this before, and nobody told me about this either. You know that the only people I hang around are Star and the other Interceptors." Kai noticed that Suzi seemed to flinch at this remark. It wasn't much, but he did see it.

"Do you swear, on your honor that you were never told to speak those words, that no person, living or otherwise spoke them?" Suzi's expression was identical to Starlings the day he asked to become her apprentice.

"I swear it on my honor, my name and my word." He replied.

Suzi studied his expression for a moment before nodding. "Ok, get your things, it's time to go." Getting up, Suzi left the small room.

Kai took one last moment and looked around what had been his home for three weeks. He was happy to have met the Zero's, and he had a lot of fun while staying with them. Most of all though, he was thankful that they had offered to take him in for as long as they had. He knew that they were moving him for his own safety, to protect him. But he had two completely different reasons. The first was for their safety, to keep the council off of their backs. After all, they had helped him, so how could he refuse to do the same for them? But his second reason was his primary drive, it was the fire that kept him going.

He had a promise to keep.

End Chapter 8

AN: Ok, so the ending was a bit cliché, but keep in mind that despite his abilities, Kai is still human, and the desire to make it home to see those he cares for will be a strong driving force for him. Next chapter will explain the mark a bit more, as well as introduce Kai's next temporary home. I know you guys are going to like it. I hope that this helped explain chapter six of Broken Wing, Piper's Ponders. And lastly, no, Kai does not have the ability to see the future in any way shape or form. Please review, and til next time, Ja Ne!


	9. The Truth and a New Home!

The One Year Flight

Chapter 9 The Truth and a New Home!

AN: Oh boy, I know it's been a while, but as I have stated in most of my updates as of late, things are crazy busy right now, but fear not! Nothing will hold me back, and nothing will stop me from writing…well….almost nothing. Some idiot ran into a telephone line with a bulldozer across from my house, so I haven't had a working phone line in almost three days! Currently it is (checks clock) 5:30 AM, and I haven't much time, but please accept this massive update as my apology for being absent for the past week. Anyways, I'm really sorry that this story got placed on the back burner, but I'm trying to get Winds of Change up and out as quickly as possible for reasons mentioned in its first chapter. Now, sit back and enjoy the long awaited, nearly forgotten, and probably not very much anticipated ninth chapter of, The One Year Flight!

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, Rose, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

"Dragon voice" Same as Master Cyclonis when extremely peeved in the show.

Kai held for dear life as his newly adopted and self appointed big sister hit the glacier.

"Su, are you sure this is a good idea?" He asked squeezing her waist tightly.

"Good? No. Fun? Yes!" Suzi shouted with a grin. Feeling the grip tighten around her waist, her grin got even larger.

"Hey Kai, when's the last time you gave your lungs a good work out?" She asked innocently.

"Lungs? What are you? No…oh no no no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kai screamed.

" YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Blizzarian shouted at the top of her lungs as the grinder flew off the end of the terra and dropped like a stone.

"Su! Su! I don't what to die!" Kai shouted.

"Oh come on boy! We almost knocked the hosier out of you; don't tell me it came back!" Suzi shouted over the howling wind as she deployed the wings.

Several minutes later, after Kai's knees stopped shaking, he remembered the encounter from earlier. To be honest, it still freaked him out a little. For a second, he had actually thought that Suzi was a vampire or something. Gingerly, he reached up and felt the spot on his neck. It still stung a bit, but the odd thing was that it felt raw.

Now, bites were something that Kai was very familiar with. For some odd reason dogs seemingly hated him. He didn't know why, they just did. He was only a few bites short of having a complete set of tooth marks from every breed of dog that walked the face of Atmos. Added to that, he had a few that were human as well.

Since he was five, well, six really, he had only been five for a few days after meeting her, Starling had been his baby sitter. As he grew older, they would on occasion fight, either to resolve some petty argument, or, when she was preparing to go to the Sky Academy, as her sparring partner. Of course there was the standard fighting instruction manuals, but Kai scoffed at some of the things that they left out, things that were in his mind obvious.

Low blows were one of them.

Hence his showing Starling that her supposedly unbreakable hold was in fact breakable. All he had to do was bite the arm that was close to his face.

He hadn't counted on her returning the favor.

Point was, Kai knew what a bite felt like, and this was not it.

"Um Su?" Kai asked as she checked their heading on the compass.

"Hm?" She looked over her should to see him rubbing the sore spot on his neck. Seeing it, the fur around her face tinted slightly.

"I uh…are Blizzarians poisonous?" Kai asked bluntly.

"What? Why would you think…ohhh." Suzi started snickering, then she outright laughed. "No, we're not poisonous, but I think I know why you think it. I guess in a way you could say that we are, but not in the same sense you're thinking." Seeing his blank look, she sighed. "What do you know about us?" She asked.

Kai though about it for a minute, trying to recall anything that he did know, which was proving difficult._ "What do I know about Blizzarians? There's next to nothing on them at the library, even the archives are a bit sketchy."_ Snorting, Kai answered. "Next to nothing, just what I've seen with my two eyes. There's hardly any records, and nothing as far as general knowledge. You like the cold, you have great hearing, you're very good and loyal friends that will do anything you can to help a friend, and, you're all terrible pilots." He said the last part with a grin.

Suzi rolled her eyes at the last remark. "I'm not surprised. Tell me, did you notice anything missing on the terra?" She asked looking forward to check their heading once again.

"_Missing? No…not really. They had plenty of food, mechanics, stores, the only thing they didn't have was a library."_ Kai felt like slapping himself.

"You guys don't seem to be too big on books." He replied.

Suzi snickered remembering the look on his face when she had told him the only thing he would find to read on the terra was a TV guide.

"Correct, do you know what that is?" She asked watching him out of the corner of her eye.

Kai just shook his head.

"Well, it has to do with the terra. You see, we Blizzarians don't actually have a home terra." She said laughing at his expression.

"But, if, I, I thought terra Blizzarias was your home terra?" Kai said scratching his head.

"It is" She replied waiting for his brain to break trying to figure it out.

"But, I , huh?" Right now, Kai was not at his best and brightest.

"We're nomads. Terra Blizzarias is wherever we live. It's pretty rare for us to stay in any one place for longer than a few years." She clarified.

"Ohhh. But, what does that have to do with not having any books?" He asked still not understanding.

"Well, think about it. If you're always on the move, wouldn't you want to do as little packing and unpacking as possible?" She asked.

Kai thought it over. _"I don't see what the big deal is. It's just a few books….ohhhh. If it was a person moving, it would just be a few things. But to move the entire population of a terra? Wow, I never thought about that before."_ That's when another thought entered his head.

"Su? If you don't record anything, then how do you know your own history?" He asked still a bit confused.

This made Suzi smile._ "Star was right. He is a quick learner."_ Looking over her shoulder, she answered him. "We tell it, pass it down from one Alpha to the next. My father was the previous Alpha of clan Lu, but I inherited it after he…" Suzi took a deep breath before continuing. "Since I was his only daughter, he would drill the bloody stuff into my head till it hurt. I could list off the last fifty clan heads if I wanted to. But that's not the point. Our history is passed down orally, from one generation to the next in the case of families, and from clan head to clan heir when it comes to the important stuff. That's why you won't find any textbooks on us, well, none that are accurate." She amended.

"Ok, but what does that have to do with your bit feeling like a burn?" He asked wincing as salt from the air started to get into the wound._ "Salt air? Where on Atmos is she taking me?"_

"Well….like I said. We're not REALLY poisonous, but our bite is a bit…different that most other species, or rather, our saliva is." Seeing the boys face turn green she snickered. "Yep! Your neck hurts cause its more than just a little bite, it's actually closer to being a hic" Kai cut her off from finishing the word.

"Just tell me what it did!" He shouted in a panicky tone.

Chuckling at his reaction, she decided to have some mercy on him; after all, he was her brother now. "It prevents a wound from healing properly until your blood cleans itself." Seeing Kai's face turn white, she quickly added. "I didn't bite that hard, besides, it serves a purpose." Seeing him calm down she continued. "By it preventing you from healing, it makes the mark more visible once it does heal. That way it won't be mistaken for something else. Any Blizzarian that sees that will know not to mess with you unless they want to tangle with your pack." She said grinning. "You're one of us now, never forget that." She said smiling genuinely.

Kai felt the spot one more time, and then remembered the way she had reacted to what he had said.

Flashback

"_I, who have no pack, shall with yours now run." He didn't know where the words came from; they just seemed to spill out. Upon seeing Suzi's eyes grow wide however, he thought that he had done something wrong._

Flashback end.

"Su? Back at the…ceremony, why were you so upset by what I said? I didn't…I didn't insult you or anything did I?" He asked slightly worried.

At this, Suzi sighed and ran a paw through her hair before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Kai, you didn't insult me, not by long shot. But…you…you kind of put yourself in a bit of a bind." She said in a slightly exasperated tone of voice.

"What do you mean I put myself in a bind?" He asked confused.

"Well, what you said…you probably don't even understand it do you?" She asked bluntly.

"Not really. Like I said. It was like I had seen it before, or..I don't know. It just felt like the right thing to do." He said honestly.

Suzi nodded her head in understanding. "It was an instinct wasn't it? You didn't even say it; your body did it on its own without your knowing didn't it?" She asked sadly.

"Well…yeah…it kind of did." Kai was silent for a few moments. "You still didn't answer my question, why did you get so upset?" He asked remembering how they reached this point in the first place.

Suzi's face scrunched up. _"How do I explain this so that he won't…..freak?"_ Was the best word she could use to describe to current situation. Swallowing, she decided that he deserved to be told the truth, at least in this one matter.

"Kai…you basically denounced your humanity and clamed yourself to be a Blizzarian." She replied carefully.

Now it was Kai's turn to scrunch his face in confusion. "Ooooook. But why is that a bad thing?" He asked slightly confused.

"_Milkbones. Why did he have to ask that?"_ Suzi grumbled. "Kai….tell me…how many other species did you see back at the terra?" She asked calmly.

Kai had to think that question over for a total of five seconds.

"None."

"Correct, so, what would you say is one of the main guidelines we live by?" She asked.

"_What would their guidelines have to do with they're not being any other….oh,OH!"_ Kai looked up quickly, understanding clearly written across his face.

"I screwed up big time didn't I?" He asked bluntly.

"Welllll….yeah…big time ace. Blizzarian's stick to their own, just like every other species. So…yeah." Suzi switched back to looking forward and checked her instruments, trying to distract herself. _"Well, it's not like he has no choice in the matter. I was the only one that heard it, and I can turn a blind eye…errr…deaf ear for him. But I still wonder where he heard that from? No one has completed the pact in almost three hundred years, and only clan heads even know it."_ Looking over her shoulder, she addressed the near hyperventilating youth. "Don't worry bout it. I didn't hear nothing eh?" She asked with a grin.

Kai slumped at this and Suzi knew that he was relieved.

"_Although…there is always _her_….yeah right! That'd be a hot day in Blizzarias"_ It took everything Suzi had not to fall of her skimmer laughing. The mere thought of _those two_ ever settling down was the funniest thing she had ever thought of, and she had circulated fliers that Billy was going to Atmosia University last year.

"What's so funny?" Kai asked surprising her.

"Huh? What are you talking about?

Kai rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Su. I've known you long enough to know that the only time your quiet is when you're planning something or thinking about something funny. Plus I could feel you laughing; remember you're the only thing I've got to hang onto?" Kai squeezed her stomach to remind her of this point. "Unless…you were crying…uh…please tell me that you weren't crying." Kai pleaded.

Suzi couldn't hold back laughing at this point. "No, I wasn't crying. I was thinking of something funny." Suzi grinned.

"What was it?" Kai asked not liking the look of her grin.

"Well…I was thinking that it would be possible for you to keep with the pact after all since." Before Suzi could finish though, her ears twitched, which was followed by another smile, but unlike her normal grins and shark smiles, this one was almost sad.

"Well Kai, looks like this is where you get off." She said looking over her shoulder.

"What are you talking about? All I see is cloudkrill? I don't see any terra's or even a skimmer." Kai said looking around.

_Ship horn_

Kai nearly fell off of the skimmer as a large carrier rose up from under the cloud line.

"Ahoy! The land lover ready for a swim?"

Kai looked up in aw at what had to be one of the largest men he had ever seen in his life.

Suzi smiled warmly. "Kai, meet Tritonn, Sky Knight of terra Aquanos, and flight lead of the Neck Deeps."

End Chapter 9

AN: Ok, again, sorry that it took so long to get this out, but, like I've said a hundred times now, busy. This chapter, when combined with what a few of you know from reading a few of the other authors stories on this site _caugh_Tigger and the Rock Hearts All grow up_caugh_ and the previous chapter should provide some insight for some of my future work. I'm not going to give any more spoilers on the subject of _her_. Now, I hope that Kai's new guardian is acceptable. I originally wanted it to be the Rebel Ducks of terra Gale, but the thought of writing out their accents for seven to nine chapters nearly gave me a heart attack and stroke at the same time. Sailors speak though I can do, and no not _that_ kind of sailor speak. Anyways, look for the next chapter to be up….sometime.

Till next time, Ja Ne!


End file.
